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Reference materials are a valuable resource when doing research.
Use dictionaries to help with terminology. Encyclopedias provide background information, an overview of topics and issues and often lead you to further readings.
- Dictionary of globalization
- Encyclopedia of international relations and global politics
- International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences
- International relations : the key concepts
- The SAGE encyclopedia of terrorism
Online resources like Google and Wikipedia, while not always accurate, are a great way to orient yourself in a topic, since they usually give a basic overview with a brief history and any key points. Reminder: you cannot use Wikipedia as a source in your bibliography!
Step 1: Write your topic out in sentence or question form
- How ethical is international intervention in Ethiopia?
Step 2: Break your topic sentence up into main ideas or keywords
- Ethical, international, intervention, Ethiopia
Step 3: Think of synonyms or alternate words to describe each concept
- International - foreign, global
- intervention - aid
Tip: Use dictionaries, encyclopedias, or a thesaurus to find alternate words.
Step 4: Add "Boolean operators" (AND, OR) to make a complete search statement
- Use AND to limit or narrow your search to results that mention all of your keywords.
- ethical AND international AND intervention AND Ethiopia
- Use OR to broaden your search to include synonyms.
- ethical AND (international AND intervention OR global) AND Ethiopia
- ethical AND (international OR foreign) AND (intervention OR aid) AND Ethiopia - Note: you can use as many synonyms for each keyword but OR terms must be bracketed for each term.
Step 5: Add wildcards to search for all possible word endings
A wildcard is usually represented by a *. This is also called truncation.
Your final search string will look like this:
- ethic* AND (international OR foreign or global) AND (intervention OR aid) AND Ethiopia
Step 6: Consider Key Phrase searching
Some databases search each word separately. To ensure that your words are evaluated as a key phrase, enclose them in double quotation marks.
- "human rights"
Step 7: Evaluate your results
If you are finding too many or too few results, try these tricks:
To broaden your search (find more):
- Find synonym for each keyword.
- Search for a broader concept ('dog' instead of 'poodle').
- Use wildcards/truncation.
To narrow your search (find fewer):
- Add another concept or idea to your search with AND
- Use more specific words ('poodle' instead of 'dog').
The library's search tool Omni is on the library homepage and lets you do just one search to find books, newspaper articles, journal articles, and other types of resources.
SEARCH TIPS:
- Use keywords only, do not search using a full sentence. OMNI is not like Google. You cannot type in a question or sentence and get results.
- Use an online thesaurus to help find synonyms for your keywords.
- Use the Step-by-Step Guide to Building your Search above to create your search string.
After doing your search limit or narrow by:
- Peer-Reviewed Journals
- Resource Type
- Publication Date
- Subject
- Language
- Location
More information available here.
Omni Searching on the library homepage
Use the same Search Tips as found above in Find Books or see the Step-by-Step Guide to Building your Search. The databases are not like Google. You cannot search an entire question or sentence.
Tip: Most databases provide a way to restrict the results of a search to peer-reviewed or academic articles. This may be done differently from database to database.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
- International Political Science Abstracts
- Columbia International Affairs Online
- PAIS Index
- International Security and Counter Terrorism Reference Center
- JSTOR
DO NOT LIMIT yourself to these databases alone. If you are doing a topic that is economic in nature, check the databases listed under Economics, or if your paper has a feminist slant you will want to look at the databases listed under Women's and Gender Studies. Here is a complete list of Databases by Subject.
- Canadian Newsstream
- Global Terrorism Database - provides information on domestic and international terrorist attacks around the world since 1970 with annual updates
- Continuum Economics - news monitoring service providing access to articles and analysis on global economic issues.
- PressReader - current coverage of over 1000 newspapers from over 100 countries in more than 60 languages.
- Factiva - global coverage of major news sources
For assistance with news sources, you can contact me or our News Specialist, Ryan Tucci.
- Canadian Public Documents Collection - Collection of publications from Canadian public policy institutes, government agencies, advocacy groups, think-tanks, university research centres and other public interest groups.
- Conference Board of Canada e-Library
- NBER (National Bureau of Economics Research) Working Papers
- PolicyFile (U.S. Policy) - Provides access to U.S. foreign and domestic policy papers and gray literature.
See a comprehensive list of Think Tanks
Search OMNI on the library homepage for Academic Writing.
Help is available on campus at the Writing Services.
Research Skills Tips:
- Start broad, then dive into the specifics. Get a good overview of your topic (see information above in Getting Started...). Then start narrowing down to more specific ideas.
- Learn how to recognize a quality source. Not every source is reliable, so it’s crucial that you recognize good sources. To determine a reliable source, use your analytical skills and critical thinking. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does this source agree with other sources I have found?
- Is the author an expert in the field?
- Does the author’s point of view have a conflict of interest regarding this topic?
- Verify information from several sources. The internet is a big place, and, for the most part, anyone can say whatever they want online—many websites don’t evaluate their content for factual accuracy. Use the CRAAP test to help determine the accuracy of online information.
- Stay organized
- Use the Library!
Writing Tips:
Search OMNI on the library homepage for Academic Writing.
Help is available on campus at the Writing Services.
You may find the following writing resources helpful as well:
- Purdue Online Writing Lab
- Writing the Research Paper Video
- Student research and report writing : from topic selection to the complete paper
- Grammar and style
Tips to avoid plagiarism
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LEARN about:
- Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing.
- This is an excellent video on paraphrasing which can be a little tricky.
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TAKE NOTES: writing down page numbers and references throughout your research is a good way to save time when you need to quote and cite sources
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NEVER copy and paste material unless you cite it properly.
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At the end of each paper/report you must CITE ALL SOURCES you have used, whether you quote them directly or paraphrase the ideas.
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When in doubt, ask for help!
Citation Resources
- Citing Your Sources
- Paraphrasing (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
- OWL (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
Please contact me for individualized assistance. I am more than happy to help!
- A - Z listing of numerous library topics such as Writing a Book Review and Avoid Plagiarism.
- Visit the Research Help Page.
- Ask a librarian online or by text
